The Plight of Kurdish Natinonalism: Critical Analysis of the Kurds in Turkey, Iran, Iran, and Syria around First World War.

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Citation

Delan, H. (2006). The Plight of Kurdish Natinonalism: Critical Analysis of the Kurds in Turkey, Iran, Iran, and Syria around First World War. (Thesis, Master of Arts (MA)). The University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10289/8738

Abstract

During recent years the Kurdish question has reappeared, more intensely than before, on the international agenda. For years, this questino has been of fundamental concern to the countries of region,and it has led to intense internal controversies and economic and social crisis. The number of Kurds in fourt parts of Kurdistan and within the four borders of countries that have divided it up between themselves totals about 35 million.This makes the Kurds, after Arabs, the Turks, and Persians,the fourth largest nation in the middle east.

Kurds are, together with the Arabs,Persians and Armenians, one of the most ancient peoples of the near east. The country they inhabit is called Kurdistan. The Kurds have thier own language,Kurdish. Kurdish is a member of the Indo-European family of languages. Like Persian,Afghan and Bakuchi, it is one of the Iranian languages. Kurdish is unrelated to Arabic or Turkish languages.

Kurds have played a signoficant role in the history of this region since it's early epoches. A great deal of information can be found in numerous Greek, Arabs, Rokan , and Armenian.According to them, Kurds founded several important states druing early Islamic epoch between teenth and thirteenth centuries such as Salahadin, Merwandidis, and Ayubiat as well as in the distant past. Sultan Salahadin, the founder of the Ayubiad state, which included Egypt, Syria and Kurdistan, played a particularly significant role in history.

This thesis attempts to examine the main charecteristics of Kurdish natuionalism. In order to do that, the thesis analyses the social structure of Kurdish scoiety. The thesis thorougly explains the agitation of Kurds against the Ottoman Empire durng nineteenth century and beyond. This thesis examines Kurdish reactions in the course of the First World War against the Empires of Ottoman and Persia, which divided the Kurdish land between themselves. The thesis analyses the stunning obtacles in the face of the Kurds in formatinon of their national state in aftermath of the Ottoman Empire. This study can be a cornerstone to understand the inherent weakness of Kurdish nationalism in integrating all social and sectarian groups within the Kurdish society.